All posts tagged ‘anxiety’

A couple of years before my oldest child was born, the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders created by the American Psychiatry Association (and used by insurance companies and school systems to mete out services), officially re-evaluated its autism diagnosis, further slicing it into “high” and “low-functioning” subsets.

“High-functioning” children with average to profoundly gifted IQs who used language with relative ease but had difficulties with social interaction and coordination would now be given an Asperger’s Syndrome diagnosis. “Low-functioning” children with significant neuro-cognitive delay and difficulties with using and acquiring language would continue to receive an “autistic” diagnosis. Children who didn’t fit neatly into either of these two camps would be given a “waste basket diagnosis” of Pervasive Developmental Disorder-No Other Symptoms (PDD-NOS).

This last diagnosis was continually criticized because it encompassed such a large range of abilities, deficits, and possible outcomes that it provided little therapeutic guidance on its own. In an effort to give the PDD-NOS diagnosis more value, additional research categories sprang up just as we were looking for answers about our child, and so, instead of receiving an accepted, understood diagnosis, three neurologists (and thousands of dollars we didn’t have) into our search we were told that our oldest son had Multiple Complex Developmental Disorder, a little-known research category that acknowledged our son’s ADHD, nonverbal learning disorder, anxiety, sleep disorder, tic disorder, auditory processing disorder, learning disabilities, sensory integration disorder, and severe gross and fine motor delays, but was not used for billing by insurance, was not understood by my school district, and because of an association with psychosis and schizophrenia (that we have never seen evidence of in our son), proved deeply stigmatizing when communicating with teachers.

Putting a name to an atypically-developing child can establish reasonable expectations and identify best therapeutic interventions. Giving a name to my son’s set of strengths and deficits should have made life better, should have helped us access services, as well as a community of support. But it didn’t. In some ways, the diagnosis we received made things worse. Instead of “autism,” my son’s IEP category has always been “OHI,” or “other health impaired.” This has resulted in longer waits and harder fights with our school district to provide necessary services and therapies — a recurring, increasingly-antagonistic cycle every time we felt his IEP needed refining. Continue Reading “Goodbye Asperger’s?” »

I’ve mentioned before that I am a headphone junkie. If I can plug it into my iPod and put it in or over my ears, its for me. So, when I was given the chance to try out Wicked Audio’s new Solus headphones, I jumped up and down screaming “Yes!”. And since Solus is latin for “be yourself,” they fit me perfectly in more than one way.

These days, in my house, Santa wears a brown uniform and drives a truck with the letters UPS on the side all year long; and finally one day, he delievered my long-awaited present. My three month wait was over and I could not have been happier with what was inside.

Plush ear covers / Image: Dakster Sullivan

The first thing I noticed was the packaging. Any box that comes with the words “Shut up. Sit down.” on the outside, has my attention. Inside the box, I found the headphones (obviously), a scratch guard bag to store the headphones, a six-foot extension cord and an 1/4″ headphone jack.

The headphones themselves are a bigger than any other headphones I have worn. They are also far more plush than anything I have ever checked out. The cord is about four feet long and covered in thick braided nylon material. The headphone connector is gold-plated.

One of the things that sets this pair apart from other similar styles is the DJ switch on the cord. With a flip of the switch you can experience either stereo or mono sound quality. I’ve heard this feature is particularly good for DJ-ing..

The sound quality is great! They are not listed as having “noise-canceling” abilities, but they do the job nicely in my house. My favorite time to wear these is when I’m having high anxiety and I need to escape.

Wicked Audio Solus headphones are available from Amazon and your local Wicked Audio retailer. They typically sell for $99, but as of the time this was written, you can grab them on Amazon for around $55.

In exchange for my time and efforts in reporting my opinion within this blog, I received a free review sample. Even though I receive this benefit, I always give an opinion that is 100% mine.

Sometimes “follow-through” is the enemy of action. Many brilliant ideas are thwarted from the outset by the foreseeable consequences of their initiation. “I want to be in the Olympics!” Great! To get there you’ll need to practice for years and out-compete most other talented and driven athletes in your sport. “Er… Never mind.”

Having something to look forward to can be daunting. And even the most challenge-loving people among us still find ourselves occasionally stalled-out at base camp when faced by the steep slope of progress. But just as we should generally avoid letting perfection become the enemy of the good when we are finishing a project, we shouldn’t let keeping our eye on the ball prevent us from stepping up to the plate in the first place.

As adults, most of us have hopefully learned to manage the overwhelm that pounces as soon as we rise to an occasion. Even when we are expert at the thing we are about to attempt, we embrace preparation as key to achievement. Horse first, then cart.

Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised. –John Steinbeck

In some ways, kids are better equipped to be dauntless than are we. They are myopic to outcomes and consequences. And while it’s our job as parents to help them develop the foresight necessary to sustain them into independence, we should also take care to equip them against fear of the future: “I want to be in the Olympics!” Great! What sport do you want to try, first? “Um… Fencing?” En garde!

The more I talk to women, especially geeky women, the more I realize that anxiety and panic attacks, in various forms, are a very common experience, and I’m no exception. Some people have social anxiety. Some have anxiety related to their health. Some have a more generalized anxiety. Some get a panic attack out of nowhere, whereas some are triggered by certain events. There are many ways to combat these often debilitating conditions, including using meditation, medication, diet, exercise, therapy, and a variety of other methods.

Through anxiety we are unintentionally using our minds for bad, causing ourselves mental and often physical anguish. But we can also use our minds for good. One way to do that is to use biofeedback as a form of help. Many years ago I learned about a device called emWave. It appealed to me, but I wasn’t sure about spending the money without having any first-hand experience with it. Fast forward to 2012 and I got the opportunity to try a unit for review.

The emWave2 is a portable biofeedback device to help you calm down, combat stress, or fight panic attacks. It can help you achieve certain goals such as relaxation, or awareness of your heart rate and breathing. This is based on what they call “the coherence breakthrough” which seems to just be an awareness of what is going on with your body.

Since I was a child, I have suffered from high anxiety. When I was growing up, it was just referred to as being shy. As an adult, I learned that what I have is not something you always grow out of. In fact, as an adult, it can get worse if you don’t learn how to deal with it as a child. It took a few years to learn exactly what I have and how to deal with it. I went from therapist to therapist looking for answers on how to “fix” myself. A few times I went on medication to help alleviate the feelings I had. Eventually, I decided I had enough of both and started on a new path to find out how to deal with the anxiety and panic attacks.

Doing research online was easy, but I never found the answers I was looking for. One day, I decided to go to a book store near my house to help clear my mind. I was just browsing the shelves when I came across a book written by a Buddhist master. The thing that intrigued me about him was that he admitted to suffering from anxiety. It was a little bit of a tough read (certainly not as exciting as my New 52 Justice League comics), but I was able to learn a few tricks. One really important trick I learned was how to identify my triggers.

Over the years, I have figured out what my triggers are and I have found ways to avoid them or deal with them. Unfortunately, some of my triggers are things that I can’t avoid, such as social interaction and big crowds. TV and movies can be especially rough for me. This became a serious problem when my husband would want to watch his favorite show, Smallville. I would get caught up in the story to the point that I would have racing thoughts and panic attacks if it ended on a cliff hanger. Eventually, I started having “me time” where I would lock myself in the bedroom for an hour so that he could watch his show and I could keep my sanity.